Iran’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Organization (SATBA) has proposed a plan to the government to buy electricity generated in the renewable sector at higher prices in order to encourage more investment from suppliers who are grappling with economic difficulties, a spokesman said.
SATBA Spokesman Jafar Sigaroudi said on Sunday that the government seeks to overprice the renewable power by around a third, adding that the move could help producers maintain their current output levels amid the current difficult situation.
“To continue to encourage the private sector investment in the renewable power plants, SATBA has proposed to the Ministry of Energy an increase of 30 percent in the price of guaranteed purchase of power from the renewables,” he added.
The official said Iran, a country highly dependent on thermal power, has made a huge progress in production of renewable electricity over the past four years mainly thanks to a government scheme which guarantees the purchase of the power produced in private plants for a period of 20 years.
He said, however, that economic woes caused by American sanctions on Iran have dismayed some investors, prompting the government to search for new incentives that could attract more funding to the sector.
Sigaroudi said Iran’s minister of energy had ordered the creation of taskforce to pursue the case.
The largest exporter and importer of electricity in the Middle East, Iran plays a central role in power supply in the region.
Iran is currently supplying Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan with electricity, CEO of Tavanir Mohammad Hassan Motavallizadeh said on January 04, adding that the country is poised to double the volume of its power export to neighboring countries.
Back in early February, Iranian Minister of Energy Reza Ardakanian said that the power generation of the country has increased by 11.4 times since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Ardakanian said that Iran has moved up 24 ranks in terms of generation of electricity in the past forty years.
According to statistics, Iran’s rank of power generation in the world promoted from 38 to 14 and presently, the Ministry of Energy is exchanging electricity with its neighbors.
Fars News Agency
